


quiet time

by fan_nerd



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Adoption, Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 03:45:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9053896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fan_nerd/pseuds/fan_nerd
Summary: Otabek asks, "What have you two been up to, besides the obvious?" Yuuri holds skating lessons at Ice Castle Hasetsu some days and helps his parents with the inn on others. Victor travels to skating events, writes books, and occasionally judges competitions, but they've both been doing these things for ten years now.The married men share a look. Victor sheepishly rubs the back of his neck and answers, "We've been thinking about adopting."
  
    ✮Русский translation





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Мирные времена](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14116944) by [Inuya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inuya/pseuds/Inuya)



> this is dedicated to my good buddy [@dragontulsi](http://dragontulsi.tumblr.com/) on tumblr! please follow them for awesome art. merry late xmas! i rly hope you enjoy this. ♥
> 
> for ref, this fic is based off the us adoption process. not sure how it differs from japan or other countries, but this fic takes place in hasetsu. :)
> 
> **edit: mar 27, 2018 -[Русский translation](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14116944) now available!**

After retirement, Yuuri and Victor work hard to gather with their friends three or four times a year. They try to have two meet-ups in the winter so that they can watch young skaters scramble to the podium and talk about the finer points of their programs. Some years, the older couple can scrounge up a large crowd, wrangling Chris, Mila, Phichit, Guang-Hong, Seung-Gil, and all of their significant others. This time around, as Victor is  _truly_ starting to go bald at age forty, and Yuuri gracefully softens like his parents before him, they only have two visitors.

Otabek Altin and Yuri Plisetsky, affectionately Beka and Yurio to the older men, sit at the table, fine Russian liquor and Kazakh sweets laden in their arms. They eat Yuuri's food in relative peace, the blonde snapping that he's thankful somebody  _useful_ cooked this time, because eating Victor's meals is something that they all consider a death sentence. Of course, this means that things are partly Western and partly Japanese, but nobody dares to complain.

Out of sheer kindness and love, Yuuri  _does_ make one Russian side dish, namely  _pirozhki._ Plisetsky had muttered a recipe to him years ago and Yuuri had memorized it with a private smile. Neither of them tell Victor about the exchange, but chances are that he knows about it anyways.

They settle down and talk about life after retirement. The Russian Yuri and Otabek have been living in Moscow for a few years now, having formally cemented a relationship at about the same age Yuuri and Victor had, after years of dancing around mutual crushes, brief stints of dating, breaking up, and making up again. Yuri spits when the older couple dashes into long moments of silence and furious blushes, petting each other's hair and squeezing each other's cheeks. He makes gagging noises while he scarfs down more rice and pirozhkis, drowning his sorrows in Vodka cut with cranberry juice.

Otabek just smiles at his boyfriend fondly, patting Yuri on the shoulder when he slams his fork down a bit too violently, and the younger man huffs indignantly.

It's all horridly sweet.

Once they all get around to sharing drinks and putting food away, Otabek quietly asks, "So, what have you two been up to, besides the obvious?" Yuuri holds skating lessons at Ice Castle Hasetsu some days and helps his parents with the inn on others. Victor travels to skating events, writes books, and occasionally judges competitins, but they've both been doing these things for ten years now.

Yuuri and Victor share a look. Victor sheepishly rubs the back of his neck and says, "We've been thinking about adopting."

Yuri's jaw drops. His immediate reaction is to say, "What the fuck?" and Otabek puts a reprimanding palm on the small of Yuri's back. He hangs his head, cowed, and says, "What brought this on?"

"I like kids," Yuuri answers, lacing his sturdy hands in front of him, smiling softly. "We both agreed that it would be weird to have a surrogate."

Everyone in the room silently agrees that nobody needs a miniature version of either snarky man running around, for a multitude of reasons. Victor chimes in by adding, "I like children too!! They're so impressionable and sweet, and they never get offended by my brash remarks."

"That's because you  _are_ a child, Nikiforov," Plisetsky mutters and Otabek snickers beside him.

"That sounds nice," Otabek murmurs quietly, putting an arm around Yuri's waist as the four of them finish tidying the dining table and migrate over to the living room. "Have you already started the process?"

"We called to learn about what we needed to do," the Japanese man replies, grabbing more liquor before sitting down, making sure everyone's glasses are full. "Things are a little tricky because our marriage isn't recognized here, but we're both more than old enough. Victor's naturalized, so that helps too."

Yuri asks what they're all thinking about with heavy hearts. "What are they going to do about the fact that you're both men?"

Victor and Yuuri lace their hands, rings glinting on their fingers, and they smile softly, blue eyes meeting brown, both of them exuding confidence. "We can't do anything about how they perceive us," Victor hums, kissing Yuuri's hand, "But we're going to try our best, regardless."

"Well," Yuri awkwardly fidgets in place, fingers fumbling around his glass as he curls nervously against Otabek. "Good luck, I guess."

Otabek follows up by saying, "Somehow, I think you two will be able to pull it off."

Yuuri smiles at the young Kazakh man. "Yeah, we think so, too."

//

The information session is mostly full of older women, a handful of heterosexual couples, and one man who is very, very quiet. Victor and Yuuri keep mostly to themselves as the development worker flits about gregariously, handing out pamphlets and dimming the lights to put on a slideshow. After going through the rules and procedures of adoption law, they eventually show different pictures of children who are up for adoption in their district.

Yuuri clasps Victor's hand, biting his lips nervously while the older man puts a hand on his back and keeps him steady. The two-hour session comes to a close, all of the people in the room are handed packets, and Victor whispers, "Are you sure you'll still good for this, love?"

The Japanese man keeps Victor's pale hand clasped tight, a stubborn look in his eyes. "I've never been more sure of anything else." Yuuri had grown up in a warm home, with a small, inviting family. Victor has been integrated with the Katsuki family for years, and beyond that, his childhood home situation had been nothing short of abysmal. He too is looking forward to creating a safe space for a child who is more like himself than he is ready to admit.

They set up an appointment for the district employee to come visit their house.

She is kind, understanding, and perhaps stares at them a moment too long, the Japanese man fidgeting in place with his tall husband standing next to him. The Russian sports a smile that she's sure is television worthy. "We can come in two months. Is eleven o'clock okay?" Victor and Yuuri check the calendars on their phones, then nod in sync. Inoue Ayaka comes over in a crisp suit, parades around the place - which is spotless, because they've been cleaning all week preparing for her visit. She takes careful notes, talking to them about the particulars of how they would like to adopt, parent, and the like.

After spending thirty minutes taking notes and chatting peacefully with the men, she bows to them and says that she'll sign them up for the next portion of the adoption process. It could be months before they hear back, or maybe weeks; the agency can never truly be sure how much demand there is, and they don't have enough staff members to expedite the ordeal.

"I know this must be tough," Ayaka says, giving them a sympathetic look when she goes, "But you have to stay eager and willing to fight. You have to prove you're more than what you look like if you really want this."

Yuuri almost laughs in her face.

He and Victor have been fighting that type of battle for  _ages_.

Instead, he schools himself, bows back politely, and tries very hard not to yell once the woman is gone.

//

Victor dozes off during the classroom sessions for pre-service training multiple times. Often, he's jet-lagged from traveling across the globe when he whisks himself into the buildings that hold them, and he slides next to his husband, trying stubbornly to keep his blue eyes open and failing.

They agree to stagger these sessions over four weeks instead of eight, making each run about six hours long. When things get serious, Yuuri softly elbows Victor in the side that the older man can pay attention. Yuuri has a whole notebook full of neurotically scribbled Japanese, liberally transcribing anything he thinks could prove useful to know in the future. They talk about the implications of parenting, the various financial and emotional stresses associated, and more. Then, they move on to talking about the personalities of the different children, and start taking down Yuuri and Victor's personal information.

The case worker who meets with them on the fourth week is a somewhat taciturn old man. He gives them strange looks as they scribble things and bicker in English, nervously handing over copies of their passports, birth certificates, doctor's records, and more. Hara Daiki is  _not_ fond of two men here to adopt, one of whom is a naturalized foreigner, but he does his job. He figures that the agency will wind up denying them in the end, so he goes through the motions.

Hara comes by several weeks in a row, asking for more documentation than is strictly necessary, and even Victor, with a fairly high level of patience, is starting to get annoyed with the way the old man glares at them. When he leaves, he often tells the couple that raising a child is a heavy burden, and both of them feel like spitting on his shoes. About eight months later, when they can carve out time in their busy schedules to meet with Yuri Plisetsky again, the blonde scoffs.

"Kill him," Yuri deadpans dryly, taking a long swig of his alcoholic cider. Victor grins with about one hundred bags under his eyes, and Yuuri, who looks equally drained and incredibly haggard, holds his thumb up in agreement. "Shit, that sucks."

"I mean," Yuuri murmurs, dragging a hand down his face, lying on Victor's chest and closing his eyes. "At least he's still letting us go through the process, you know? We're in the system. We have an idea about who would be a good fit, but we both fucking know they're taking things slowly because we're both men."

"We're going to adopt a child," Victor promises, hugging his spouse tightly. "We  _are,_ Yuuri, and then we're going to smile at that stupid man, and send him disgustingly adorable pictures with our kid."

Yuuri giggles, pulling Victor's hands into his lap. "Yeah. That sounds great."

The blonde gags from the other couch, covering his eyes. "You two are  _so gross_! He probably hates you because you're all sticky sweet, not because you're gay."

Victor gasps, pretending to act scandalized. "It couldn't be! Yuuri? What if he's been after you all of this time? You're just so adorable. Say it isn't so!"

"Yes, darling," Yuuri drawls lazily, his voice vibrating through his back and against Victor's chest. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. The social worker lusts after me. He's jealous of your good looks, and that's why nobody has contacted us to adopt a child in need."

" _Gay_ ," Yuri mutters softly, but the word is said with fondness.

"Yeah, well, takes one to know one," Victor quips back, and the other men snort in response.

//

After a year and a half, they receive a letter in the mail that says they've been approved for adoption. Victor is forty-two and he squeals like a child when he opens the letter. Yuuri is thirty-eight, but he leaps into Victor's arms and cries. Two weeks later, they meet their case  _manager_ , a casually dressed woman named Ruka. She looks to be about their age, but she is one of the first people at the agency to treat them like  _people_ instead of outsiders.

"There's no reason the two of you shouldn't be allowed to adopt," Ruka tells them softly, opening the door to her office. "You weren't looking to adopt a newborn, right?"

"No." Both men answer in unison. They've rehearsed this answer a million times.

She opens her computer, turns the display, and talks them through the particulars of the children housed at this facility. Neither of them think they're ready for  _two_ children, so they stay focused on those without siblings.

"Our last child has had a bit of difficulty here," Ruka says, clicking through profile information and reading the list of medical problems she's had. "Although she has a few speech issues, she's fairly healthy now, but as a five year old, we're concerned about her social aptitude. Being sick so often when she was younger made her a bit of a wallflower." Yuuri sits up at that, nodding along with her words, and Victor's blue eyes sharply focus on his husband beside him. "This is Saya." Her upper lip is a bit crooked, one of her teeth is chipped, and her hair looks dry.

Since Yuuri is vibrating in place and silent, Victor puts a pale hand over Yuuri's tan one and smiles at the woman. "Could we meet her?"

"Sure thing," the social worker replies easily, clicking a few buttons and setting up an appointment. "Please take things cautiously next week. She's wary of strangers, but she's a good girl."

"Yes," Victor says, leaning on Yuuri and beaming happily. "We will."

They leave without saying anything further, bowing eagerly when they exit the room.

//

Saya takes her seat at the low table with a pout. She pulls at her pigtails uncomfortably before putting her hands in her lap, trying not to look as nervous as she feels.

Yuuri sucks in a deep breath as Victor loops an arm around his shoulder. "Hi," the younger man opens, his smile wobbly. He looks as nervous as she is, so the little girl blinks hopelessly large, dark eyes up at him. "This is Yuuri, and this is my husband, Victor." Victor waves at the appropriate time, his mouth forming a soft heart. "You don't have to say anything if you don't want to, but we've heard a lot about you, and I thought you might want to meet us."

The girl looks up at them and then back down at the table, fidgeting. "Mm," she hums back, smiling softly.

"We both love ice skating," Yuuri continues, feeling slightly relieved when Saya's eyes follow the eager movements of his hands. "We also love dogs, but we haven't had one in a while because we wanted to make sure that anyone we brought home felt comfortable with an animal." Her eyes light up at the idea, and her mouth falls open. Yuuri beams back. "You like dogs?" She nods, her lips twitching further upwards. "Well, we really like poodles a lot."

At her quizzical look, Victor pulls out his phone and searches for pictures of fluffy brown dogs that remind him of his long-passed Makkachin. "See," Victor murmurs, looking delighted as the little girl takes his phone and hurriedly flicks through results. "Their floppy ears are the best. Our dog used to love the beach, so we took him there a lot."

"..Bee," Saya hums softly, her voice surprisingly low. "Bee, water. Oush? Dog?"

"You want to see?" Victor holds out his hand to take back the phone and goes through his organized albums to find a picture from years ago of the old boy paddling around in the ocean. "There's our Makka. He loved to swim."

She lights up at the sight, a flush high on her cheeks. Both Yuuri and Victor feel stunned and honored to have her attention. Once she looks at all the pictures of the two of them in swimsuits, laughing with their dog, Saya gingerly puts the phone away. "Like you. Fun. Dog." After struggling to find the word, she turns her dark eyes to the table and her lips turn downward. "Talk is hord, but. Again?" Her voice cracks and her eyes are watery as she reaches out a hand for Yuuri, who looks to be on the verge of crying himself. "See again?"

Yuuri takes her hand, blinking hot tears out of his eyes. Saya starts crying as well. "Mmhmm. We'll come back and see you again."

Victor cradles his husband in his arms for the rest of the day, softly petting Yuuri's hair until he stubbornly murmurs, "We're going to bring that girl home with us, and we're going to spoil her rotten."

"Yep," the older man agrees, kissing Yuuri's back. "We sure are."

//

They meet with Saya under their case manager's supervision for several more weeks, gradually expanding their conversation topics to talk about their lives at home and some of their friends that they have over, watching the little girl's face light up when she sees lots of men and women enjoying themselves in their house. Ruka works to push the paperwork for adoption through, and Hara, grumpy old man that he is, begrudgingly helps with the work, and before Winter, they get to bring Saya home.

Yuuri drives with both hands nervously clenched on the steering wheel. Victor sits in the back to hum a song to Saya, who is just watching the scenery pass by in awe. People keep passing in and out of their house for checks, making sure it's still in fine living condition. The social workers tell them that they'll still have to formally file the adoption with the court, but they're content to keep fighting for their right to maintain custody over this child.

Saya quickly integrates herself into their lives. Victor stops traveling for events so that he can be home at the drop of a hat. He honestly has more money than he knows what to do with, so he winds up minding the house more often while Yuuri has to kiss his spouse and daughter goodbye, jetting off to the inn or the rink. Instead, Victor dedicates more time to his short stories and novels.

She takes up coloring, goes to speech therapy, and falls asleep between her fathers' legs. The speech part is particularly difficult because they speak English at home, and teaching her the rules of that language on top of her stilted Japanese is a bit difficult, but they make it work. Yuuri often cries at night when Saya curls against Victor, taking a picture of them with shaky hands and feeling flustered and in love all over again. "We did it," he whispers, tucking Saya's hair behind her ears and clutching Victor's right hand tightly over the edge of the couch. Victor blearily blinks back at his husband, smiling sweetly at him.

"We  _did_ ," Victor agrees, putting a hand on Saya's back and listening to her small heart beat quickly against his chest, sure that his racing just as quickly.

Six months later, the court gives them a certificate that makes it official, and they celebrate by throwing their little girl a party.

//

After easing into parenting with Saya, Victor and Yuuri slip into their roles. By the time Saya is seven, her sentence structure is fairly traditional, even if she sometimes forgets her tenses and her stories start to trail off when words slip her mind. She loves to color, hates skirts, and totters behind her fathers to hold both of their hands when they walk to the rink.

For the first time in years, the men manage to have something of a reunion, wrangling four friends over to their place to watch the Japanese Nationals. All of them arrive in the early morning, take the train to Hasetsu, and agree to go skating for a bit before the competition airs in the evening.

Saya's eyes glance around all of the unfamiliar adults and Victor puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Both Yuuri and Victor had asked if she felt comfortable with company before inviting them over, of course, and she had eagerly agreed, excited to finally meet people she had only seen in pictures. Their friends are equally excited to meet their daughter, who they constantly post silly pictures with, splashed with water in their kitchen or covered in mud when they play in the backyard.

Victor pulls on his skates while Yuuri introduces people to their daughter. "This is Yurio," he points to the blonde man, who rolls his eyes at the nickname. Then he moves his finger over to the quiet Kazakh man beside the Russian. "That's his boyfriend, Otabek."

"Boyfren, like Daddy and Papa," Saya hums eagerly, her chipped tooth shining in the light of the locker room.

"That's right," Yuuri agrees. She runs over to Yuri Plisetsky and puts her hands in his lengthy hair, staring at the bright strands in awe. Yuri stares at the girl and sits shock still, unsure of how he's supposed to react.

"S'pretty," she says, then immediately jets over the man with an undercut. "You're pretty too."

"Thank you," Otabek replies softly, giving her a soft smile and ruffling her hair. "You're also very cute."

"Not cute! I'm  _han-some_ ," Saya insists proudly, hurrying back to Yuuri's side. "Papa called Daddy that, so I'm that."

Mila and Sara peek into the men's section at all the noise and start laughing at the last bit, their giggles turning into full-blown guffaws as Victor flushes red. The redhead goes over to slap her old rinkmate on the back. "You two are still so cheesy after all this time?" Mila asks and Victor smiles.

"Yes," Victor says, opening his arms when Saya runs from Yuuri to him. "Of course. We're still terribly in love, you know."

"You have a kid now," Sara raises her brow suggestively, and all the adults in the room snicker knowingly. "Better watch it."

Yuuri's face lights up as he goes to get his skates. "We wouldn't do that with her around!"

Yuri Plisetsky rolls his eyes and punches the shorter man in the shoulder. "It's just a joke. Relax, Katsudon."

"Tall," Saya gasps as the adults around her all don huge skating boots. She pulls on Yuuri's pants and flicks her wide brown eyes up. Even though Yuuri works here, she's never seen her shorter father actually step out on the ice. "Daddy's sooo high."

Yuuri lifts Saya up, puts her on his shoulders, and smiles fondly. "Yep. Don't you feel like a big girl, Saya?"

"I'm big!" Saya says. "Daddy, skate big?"

He puts her down after a couple minutes, handing her off to Yuuko and the girls, who are all adults at this point. It shocks him to think that one day, his own daughter will grow up, just as he'd seen Axel, Lutz, and Loop miraculously transform from children to young women.

Yuuri is  _absolutely_ unprepared for that reality.

//

The seven of them are playing around on the ice with the boombox playing in the background. The Nishigori triplets start spinning around with the adults pretty quickly after they warm up and make fun of each other for complaining about aching knees.

Victor and Yuuri dance together around the ice, narrowly avoiding bumping into their old peers. Saya watches her fathers giggle and dip, shimmying beautifully when they're not almost wiping out on the ice even though they're both former Grand Prix gold medalists. Mila and Otabek whistle when Yuuri presses a soft kiss to Victor's hand and helps the taller man spin. Yuri, meanwhile, is performing psychotically difficult jumps for his age, Sara is taunting Mila, and the triplets are taking it all in, trying to pull out their phones, much to the contempt of their worrying parents.

Saya's dark eyes are laser-focused on her parents. She points to them, looks up at Yuuko with shimmering eyes, and says in Japanese, "Can I? Daddy, Papa, dance?"

"You want to go out there?" The woman asks with a soft smile, and the child excitedly nods her head. "Yeah, sure. Hey, Yuuri!" She waves her hands and beckons her childhood friend over. He peels himself away from Victor, who lazily jumps and circles the rink, sticking his tongue out at the blonde Yuri when the younger man says that Victor can't land a triple sal. "Saya wants to join you guys. You wanna teach her?"

Victor's head whips over at that, and Yuuri's eyes widen. Both of them beam sappily, practically vibrating with excitement because their daughter is interested in their passion. They wait with baited breath as Yuuko teaches Saya how to tie the skates, gives her a spare set of gloves, and carefully walks her over to the bench with the blade guards on. Yuuko lifts the small girl up, takes them off, and helps her wobble into Yuuri and Victor's waiting holds, and she grasps their hands with a flush on her cheeks.

She beams up at Yuuri when the shorter man teaches her how to sweep her feet and skate between them. Victor's fingers are gentle around her left hand, and he looks up to grin happily up at his husband. Yuuri smiles back, looking just as childishly enthusiastic about the whole thing. When she insists that she feels confident, they let her go, and all the adults in the rink watch as she slowly stands her own ground, spinning briskly on the ice and throwing her hands up when she doesn't fall.

"Did it!" Saya chimes, pressing her hands to her cheeks. Yuuri scoops her into his arms and kisses her cheek, crying a bit. "Daddy, did it."

Victor comes up behind them and sniffles, putting a gentle hand on Yuuri's back. "You did it," he hums. "You want to skate some more?"

"Papa, More!" She repeats quickly, skating until she gets tired and bored, marveling at how fast the adults are cycling the rink around her.

//

Saya probably won't be a top competitor, but she likes lazily twirling on the ice with her fathers. Yuuri spends time teaching her how to dance with confidence. Victor helps her with her jumps, supporting her so that she doesn't have a disastrous wipe out on the rink.

By the time she's ten, she's equal parts obsessed with cutting her hair and skating. Her speech has evened out over the years and her language mastery is more proficient than most children, minus her kanji reading, which is fairly poor.

Every day, Victor and Yuuri watch her evolve before their very eyes, quickly changing from an innocent young child to a powerful young woman, and both of their hearts sink to think that one day in the very near future, they may have to watch her leave their sides.

When Saya lands a triple axel, once noted as Yuuri's signature move, winking at her fathers with her hands high in the air, both of them tear up from the bleachers. "That's your daughter," Yuuri murmurs softly as she giggles with the other children hanging around the Ice Castle.

" _Our_ daughter," Victor amends softly, calloused hand wrapping around Yuuri's familiarly. In awe, he remarks, "We did it, Yuuri. We really did it."

Saya skates over to their sides, sarcastically taunting her fathers. They stand up and approach her hand in hand, and Yuuri smiles. "Yeah. We sure did." Once they get close enough, they both tell her places she needs to improve her routine.

//

In the sixth grade, Saya writes a short story that gets published in a small collection for the district, earning high marks for exceptional writing.

She titles it, _On the Subject of Family_.

_My name is Saya Nikiforov-Katsuki. Officially, my last name is just Katsuki, because that's the way the law is. Both of my parents are figure skaters and men, albeit not legally married here in Japan. They adopted me when I was five, and I can never thank them enough for choosing me, out of all of the children. The three of us live with our miniature poodle, Makka Jr._

_When I was very small, I was not good at speaking. It was only recently that I found writing an easy method of communication, and I think that I'd like to make more stories. There are so many to be told, and my voice is only one of billions, but that is what makes writing so much fun._

_Dance was my first method of communication. It should be noted that I mean dancing on the ice, because my that is what my parents are passionate about. There is so much you can say when you're under those lights and the cold air hits your face that you can't when you're sitting on the bus. They taught me all about love and care together, and I will always be grateful for them._

_They gave me more words than I can possibly hold in my mouth, so I spit them out on the page instead._

_This is dedicated to my fathers, who gave me the world._

_Thank you, forever._

_Love,_

_-Saya._

They both cry when they read it, and they keep a copy on the main table of the living room. Yuuri and Victor order extra copies to send all of their friends and family as well. Saya's grandparents congratulate her with big tears, Yuri and Otabek mail her a present with heaps of praise as well, and Saya's heart feels full to bursting.

She grows up in a home surrounded by love, and she determines that she's going to give even more back to them and others.

It's the least she can do.

**Author's Note:**

> hahaah almost made myself cry in public OTL
> 
> chat with me [on tumblr](http://wbtrashking.tumblr.com/)!! ♥


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